Heidi Mills and Tim O'Keefe are the recipients of the 2014 NCTE Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts Award. This award recognizes a distinguished national or international educator who has made major contributions to the field of language arts in elementary education.

Join the Elementary Section Steering Committee as they celebrate Heidi and Tim's contributions to the English language arts at the Elementary Section Get-Together, Thursday, November 20, during the NCTE Annual Convention in Washington, DC.

Heidi Mills is an endowed professor in the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education at the University of South Carolina and the Curriculum and Development Specialist at the Center for Inquiry. Tim O’Keefe is a teacher of grades 2—3 at the Center for Inquiry. Both graduated with degrees in education from Indiana University, where they met and became a team professionally and personally.

There are few people in literacy education who have not been impacted by the work of Mills and O’Keefe. They have worked tirelessly across the past three decades to initiate, generate, and disseminate inquiry-based education that makes a difference in the lives of children and teachers. Together, with colleagues from USC and Richland School District Two, they developed the Center for Inquiry, a diverse public magnet school for students in grades K—5 in Columbia, South Carolina. The school has become a well known demonstration site for inquiry-based instruction, teacher inquiry, and school-university partnerships. The classes emphasize hands-on learning experiences, high-interest studies, and an integrated curriculum. The school is visited regularly by educators from around the world, attesting to the impact it has on pedagogy far beyond its walls.

Mills and O’Keefe are unyielding in their commitment to their day-to-day work with children, yet always pushing the field forward as they theorize from practice. They have written several books and journal articles related to their investigation of the role of inquiry in the literacy curriculum.

Mills, H. and O’Keefe, T. (2006). “From Kidwatching to Responsive Teaching: Coaching Readers During Independent Reading” in South Carolina English Teacher. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Council of Teachers of English.